Persona 3: Apocalypse
by Changling96
Summary: At the dawn of the Dark Hour, Kouetsu Kirijo got more than he bargained for; an eternal Dark Hour across the world. All humans awoke, and the world dissolved into chaos. P3 AU.


Teaser:

It's been 10 years since the Fall, and Hamuko Aristato is heading right back to the epicenter. Trained by her grandfather to combat the Shadows that now wander the globe, Hamuko arrives in what's left of Iwatodai to find a small group of Kirijo-affiliated teenagers in need of help. But the Shadows are slowly becoming a lesser evil; as multiple survivors are disappearing. And who is The Raven?

* * *

><p>Act I: The World Ended… And Then it Burned<p>

Chapter 1: Old Town, Old Foes

* * *

><p>…<p>

Walking…

…

…

It wasn't like she'd never gone hiking before; far from it. She'd gone on her grandfather's hellish idea of a 'hike' an innumerable amount of times growing up. She could go for miles without an issue but…

It was almost impossible to see very far due to the minimal amount of light the emergency lights – they must have been some kind of chemical lighting to work without power – gave off so she'd lost track of how many miles she'd been walking. Or how many pools of blood she'd avoided. Or how many Shadows she'd either snuck around or killed on the way. There weren't many of them in the train tunnel she was using to travel, but Shadows were everywhere now.

And so here she was, Hamuko Aristato, traveling alone to where the literal shit-storm began; what was left of Tatsumi Port Island.

But first...

…

More walking…

…

* * *

><p>Hamuko didn't know how long it was before she caught sight of the Iwatodai station – walking in an underground train tunnel tended to prevent seeing daynight cycles – but she had to keep herself from just running the rest of the way. Keeping her slow pace, Hamuko silently made her way up to the platform; noting the small amount of green moonlight streaming in through several holes in the ceiling. Seeing nothing – Shadow or human – around, she pulled herself off the tracks and onto the platform. Making her way over to the turnstiles, Hamuko easily jumped the security measures before entering the main lobby of the run-down train station.

She immediately ducked around a corner after seeing a black blob moving in her peripheral vision. Peeking around the corner with only one eye, Hamuko noticed a Cowardly Maya crawling on the ground in front of the stairs leaving the station.

A quick jog of her memory reminded Hamuko that this Shadow had a weakness to fire…

_But summoning here would probably attract unwanted attention._

… and a nasty tendency to 'scream' for 'help' from other larger Shadows.

Examining the destroyed lobby revealed a lack of any cover necessary to sneak up on the Shadow as all the wooden benches had long since been destroyed. Hamuko rested her head against the cold tile wall next to her. She really only had her naginatta strapped to her back as a weapon and didn't have any noise makers.

_Though, they'd just attract attention anyways. I could try throwing my naginatta in hopes of destroying the mask, or rush it with the same intentions._

After mulling it over, Hamuko sighed as she realized there was no way she could sneak up on the Shadow without risking an all-out firefight in the lobby.

She wasn't too far into her thoughts to miss the sound of the Maya being crushed, and a very faint "Go to hell". Peeking around the corner, Hamuko spotted a large teenager wearing a maroon coat and beanie lifting a large battle axe off the Shadow's evaporating corpse.

Large, muscular teen with messy brown hair. Check.

Scowl. Check.

Pistol-like Evoker in hand. Check.

Hamuko smiled. She'd found her contact.

The teen had slowly started walking toward the turnstiles – how in the world he did so without making much noise was beyond her – when Hamuko decided to show herself.

"Lovely weather tonight. Iwatodai hasn't changed at all" Hamuko giggled slightly at the stunned teen, kicking a puddle of blood with the tip of her boot, "Pools of blood and all"

The teen managed to compose himself at the sudden appearance of a brunette with red eyes wearing a dark coat with black jeans and military-style steel-tipped boots, "_You're _the contact?"

"Don't sound so disappointed to see me"

The teen scoffed at her before turning around and quickly walking to the stairs, "Let's go; I don't have time for this shit"

Hamuko easily caught up, "My my, so aggressive. You gonna buy me dinner first?"

"No" The teen made it to the top of the stairs first and started looking up and down the abandoned streets. The green moon hung low in the sky, its lunar phase currently at half throwing a decent amount of illumination onto the destroyed and abandoned streets.

"Can I get your name at least?"

"No"

Hamuko couldn't resist when she ran in front of the teen and pouted, "Aww… Why not?"

"Because we're in the middle of a fucking war-zone. So drop the damn cutesy act and keep a look out for Shadows"

The two began walking down an alleyway towards where Hamuko guessed they'd be staying. The walked in silence briefly before Hamuko grinned.

"Does that mean I can act 'cutesy' when were not in the middle of a war-zone?"

"No-"

The teen stopped mid-sentence as a small beeping sound went off in his ear, "Yeah, what's wrong?"

Hamuko instinctively slid the rut sack she'd been carrying over her naginatta off before unstrapping the weapon from her back. She'd learned over the years that more often than not, any news was bad news. Placing the pole arm onto the ground let her throw the bag back onto her back before picking her weapon back up.

"Right, we'll be there" The teen hefted his axe onto his shoulder before turning back to Hamuko, "Let's go", and then taking off; running down the alleys.

"What're we looking at here?" Hamuko was again easily keeping up with the taller teen.

"Multiple Shadows, different variants, civilians in the area"

Hamuko couldn't hide the shock from her face, "You have civilians?"

"Anyone without a Persona is a civilian to us, fighting prowess be damned. Well, all but one"

Hamuko didn't have time to question that, as the alley they were running down opened up to a street crawling with Shadows. Two teenagers – one red-headed fencer and one silver-haired boxer – were fighting in sync defending a small road that led to where she guessed the civilians were hiding from a small horde of Shadows. Outside the ruins of what looked to be an old student dormitory, a brunette archer and an eye-patch wearing man with a handgun were attempting to keep a massive stone golem from flanking them. The teen next to Hamuko pulled his Evoker from its holster and placed it against his head.

"Come on, Castor. Heat Wave!"

A massive metal horse with a man riding it burst from the teen's consciousness, flattening half of the Shadows and outright killing the weaker ones. He threw himself into the fray; swinging his axe through several Shadows in one go. Snapping back to attention, Hamuko rushed to the blind spot of the golem as it was bringing its sword down on the archer.

"Eurydice!" Hamuko felt the cold rush of her Persona bursting from her consciousness before it stopped in front of the golem and caught its sword with its golden lyre. Closing the final bit of distance, Hamuko jumped up, cutting through the golem's outstretched sword arm before spinning mid-air to cut through the mask. She landed with a roll as the Shadow, and her Persona, dissolved into the air.

"What the-?" The archer was apparently not expecting Hamuko to kill the golem as fast as she did. Giving her a grin as she got back to her feet, "Stasis Giant, weak to slash" was her brief response as looked down the street at another small horde that was moving to take the golem's place.

Noting the amount of fire-weak shadows, Hamuko's grin widened as she switched Personae to an old favorite of hers, "Pale Rider!"

A massive blue glyph formed in the air next to Hamuko as the fourth horseman of the apocalypse walked out of it, "Maragidyne!"

The street was engulfed in flames, annihilating most of the Shadows while the others died slowly afterwards from the sheer heat of the blast. Hamuko's Persona stood amongst the carnage before dissolving back into her consciousness. Noting that all the Shadows were gone, she turned back to the archer and the gunman who were both sizing her up. Looking down the street to where the other three teenagers were showed a street clear of Shadows – if just showing some of the tell-tale signs of a recent battle – and the three walking back towards them. The boxer and the axe-user were arguing over something, but the smiles on all three of their faces told Hamuko that nothing was wrong.

"Excellent work" The man with the eye patch spoke up when the three teens arrived, "That wasn't the largest group of Shadows we've fought, but you all did well"

"Thank you, father" The red-head was the first to speak before she turned to Hamuko, "And I take it that you're the 'help' that we were told would be coming?"

"She's got a Persona" The archer was talking now, "but how'd you change yours?"

The banter between the two teens stopped and everyone stared at Hamuko, who managed to just smile back at them all.

The man spoke again, "Everyone, I'd like to introduce to you Hamuko Aristato. She's the granddaughter of an old friend of mine, and a Wild Card; a multiple-Persona User"

…

…

"…Well 'hello' to you all too"

* * *

><p>The night was nowhere near done, but it seemed that he'd already cleared out this area of Shadows. Flicking his blade clean of ichor and sheathing it with no fanfare, he left the ruins of what he could guess was once a large mall.<p>

Walking back outside, he wandered aimlessly and came to a stop in front of a bridge. Or rather, what once was a bridge; the span had long since been destroyed leaving only a few feet on either side before falling into the blood-like water below. Only one of the two main cables connected the two towers while the other had been ripped apart in the explosion so long ago.

He could still remember the accident all 10 years ago; an ordinary car ride across an ordinary bridge.

A not-so ordinary explosion. His seat belt failing resulting in being ejected out the back window. Landing in the middle of the span only to watch the vehicle catch fire and explode. The green moon, the pools of blood, and one larger explosion that destroyed the bridge and ripped the suspended cables to bits.

Then failing; hitting the water along with the burnt out husks of several other vehicles.

Then nothing; darkness.

…

Then… a second chance.

Losing part of your humanity in exchange for survival wasn't too bad of an offer when the world had already gone to hell.

The sounds of several Shadows dragging themselves towards him snapped him out of his reminiscing. Drawing his blade once more, he remembered that the gangs in the slums were getting rest-less again.

Confronting the two heads would take up most of tomorrow. But for now, slaughter.


End file.
